INFORMATION ISSN 1343-4500 eISSN 1344-8994

ヽrolurne 21, Number 5,pp.1513-1521 ◎2018 1nternational lnl‐ormation lnstitute

The Relationship between Calling and Well-being: Examining the

Mediating Effects of Career Decision Self-efficacy and Career
Decidedness

Yongho Park*
*Department of Creative Human Resource Development, Incheon National (Jniversity College of Social Sciences,
Incheon, 22012, South Korea
E-mail : yhp ar k@inu. ac. ltr

Abstract
The purpose of this study was frnding the relationship between calling and academic satisfaction
with the mediating effects of the career decision self-efficacy and career decidedness in an

undergraduate student sample. The study results showed that the individual's internal source of
motivation has a statistically significant ef[ect on the academic satisfaction. Furthermore, this study
showed that the career decision self-efficacy and career decidedness media{ed the relationship between

undergraduate students' calling orientation and academic satisfaction. Based on the results, the

theoretical and practical implications were provided.

Key Words: Calling orientation, Well-being, Career decision self-efficacy, Car0er decidedness

L. Introduction
Modern society has experienced turbulent social and economic changes that have not been
experienced before. The career planning and decision on one's career are usually based on the

individual's value and perSpective in this era. In this contemporary career environment,
theoretical and practical interest in identifuing and applying individuals' calling has been
growing [1]. Especially, over the last decade, calling has been discussed in the field of
management, sociolory, psychology, and other related academic areas [2]. Even though the

calling concept has a religious background, the recent academic discussion on calling has
been started from secular and nonreligious perspectives [3,4].

So far, previous studies have identified that a wide range of occupations, ages, and

socioeconomic groups have the calling orientation 15, 6, 7). Also, some research variables

were investigated on how they are related to the calling in previous studies. This study tries to

find the relationship between calling and well-being with the mediating effects of the career
decidedness and career self-efficacy with undergraduate students. Because career

development is a crucial life issue for the young research population; the result from the

present study may extend our understanding of how calling influences one's career
development behaviors. From the results of this study, the theoretical implication for the

relatiotship among the calling and other variables will be identified. Also, the practical
implication will be suggested for the educational administrators trying to enhance individuals'
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career management behaviors.

Calling has been investigated in diverse academic fields including sociology, management,
career education, organizational behavior, and organizational psychology [8]. The concept of
the calling is rooted in the argument of Protestant Reformers suggesting that any occupation

could hold spiritual significance between the 16th and 17th centuries [5]. They argued that an

individual's calling would be service to God or society. The history of the term points to its
embeddedness in Western cultural values, and although it may be relevant to varying extents
across multiple cultural perspectives, this is a question for research to address [1]. Even
though the concept of calling has a rich intellectual history with the religious tradition of the
calling concept, the non-religious theoretical investigation on the calling has recently started
just decades ago in organizational psychology and management. The modern concept of
calling retains the secularized meaning focusing on an individual's internal source of
motivation [9].
Like the perspective on the calling concept, the concept of calling has a wide range of
definitions [10]. Usually, the definition of calling is based on the different approaches to work;
however, the calling has been defined in distinct ways. For example, Dalton defined the
calling as a summons by God to a particular career [11]; Davidson and Caddell defined it as

serving God [12]. Also, the calling has been dehned as the work influencing society or
serving greater good [4], and the result of a search for individual's fulfillment, passion [13,

l4f, and purpose of life l9l and direction for the life from God [15]. Regarding the unif,ing
conceptualization of the calling, Dik and Duf& identified three features. Those three features,

shared in the various definition of the career, include (1) motivation for the work coming from

the external entity, (2) a consonance between one's overall purpose of life and the purpose of
work role, and (3) the contribution for making a better society [1].
The construct of the calling has not yet been discussed actively. Conceptually, several
studies have investigated the construct of a calling for last a decade. Dobrow and Tosti-
Kharas identified the components of a calling, including compassion, identification,
experiencing meaning, urgency to fulfill one's work, longevity, engulfing one's consciousness,

and domain-specific self-esteem [16]. Also, Elangovan and colleagues suggested three
constructs of a calling, including the experience of being called to do something, pro-social
intention, and a convergence of different aspects of the person and complete identification
with the performed action [17]. Based on those discussions, several scales have been
published. They are the Engagement in Meaningful Work Scale [18], the Neoclassical Calling

Questionnaire [5], and the scale published by Dobrow and Tosti-Kharas [16], which is based

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on the conceptualization of calling as the meaningful passion. Even though these scales are
based on the theoretical conceptualization, they are all a one-dimensional measure of calling.

However, the recently published the Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ), a
multifaceted calling scale, including both the presence of and search for calling [19]. Also, the

CVQ-presence and the CVQ-search scales are composed of three subscales, including
' Transcendent Summons','Purposeful Work', and'Prosocial Orientation'.

In the career development research, the positive relationship between calling and career-

related variables has started to be identified. Regarding this positive relationship, Dobrow and

Tosti-Kharas argued that more investigation needs to be done o evaluate the calling in

conjunction with possible antecedents and outcomes [6]. Previous studies showed the

positive relationship between one's calling and career commitment, perceived duty, career
identification, work satisfaction, and job security [5, 18, 20,21f. The theoretical discussion
about the relationship beFveen one's calling and career development variables, though a
recent research interest, deserves careful study [2]. Also, because these variables are closely

related to organizational behaviors, it may be imperative to understand the effects of the

calling on those variables to effectively manage human resources. Parficularly, scholars have
interests in university students' callings and their effects on career development and well-
being outcomes, including career self-efficacy, career decidedness, eareer choice, academic
satisfaction, and so on [7, 8]. Therefore, this study seeks to extend the academic findings

about the effect of calling on career development and well-being variables based on the data

collected from undergraduate students.

Previous studies have shown that an individual's calling orientation is positively related to

well-being outcomes [5, 6].These study results were found in research populations consisting

of adult and college students. Those studies consider the well-being outcomes as _life
meaning_ or _life satisfaction._ In the studies conducted with the adult population, research

findings show the positive relationship between calling and job satisfaction 13,2I). According
to Wrzesniewski and colleagues' research findings, individuals having a calling orientation
were more likely to be satisfied with their work [4]. In the study with undergraduate student

samples, this calling and work satisfaction was found [3]. Based on the findings from the
adults, this study assumes that the well-being outcome is closely related to academic life for

college students because their well-being outcome is mainly decided by their academic life.

Duffu, Allan, and Dik have already shown the positive relationship between calling and

academic satisfaction in the United States research setting [8]. Therefore, this study proposes

the positive effects of calling on the academic satisfaction for the Korean research population

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as well to identi$, the relationship between both variables.

Hlpothesis 1. The presence of a calling is positively related to academic satisfaction.

The present study investigated not only the direct effect of a calling on well-being, but also

the indirect influence effect mediated through the career decision self-efficacy and career
decidedness. Hall and Chandler argued that individuals having a calling orientation are more

likely to possess high confidence in managing career-related tasks [9]. Other studies show the
similar results on the positive effect of the calling on the career decision sffength or self-

fl6,2l,22f.Based on these study results, the current study

evaluation on the career planning

assumes the positive relationship between calling and career decision self-efficacy.

Furthermore, the influence of career decision self-eff,rcacy on well-being outcomes is also

able to be assumed, especially the career decision self-efficacy's positive effects on the
academic satisfaction have been identified in several studies with college students [8, 23].

Based on the relationship among calling, career decision self-efficacy, ffid academic

satisfaction, this study hypothesized the mediation effects of career decision self-efficacy
between the other two variables. That is, the calling m4y enhance the level of academic

satisfaction partly because it also enhances the level of the confidence for career decision
making.
As another mediator, the current sfudy focuses on the relationship among the career

decidedness, calling, and academic satisfaction. Because college students are the research

population of this study, the positive eflects of career decidedness on academic satisfaction is

able to be postulated. Those who have more definite caleer goals may experience higher
academic satisfaction in university life. Also, the mediation effect of career decidedness is

based on the relationship with the presence of a calling [3, 6]. According to Duff,' and

Sedlacek, the presence of a calling may facilitate accurately perceiving the importance of
career choice based on one's self-concept. Also, the other study identified the relationship

between calling and self-clarity t6]. Therefore, academic satisfaction can be elhanced by

calling directly and indirectly through the effect of career decidedness.

Hypothesis 2. Career decision self-efficacy mediates the relationship between calling and

academic satisfaction.

ltrypothesis 3. Career decidedness mediates the relationship between calling and academic

satisfaction.

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2. Methods
2.1 Participants and procedure of study

The participants of this study consisted of 329 undergraduate students at a university in

South Korea. The participants were 48.30% male (n=759) and 51.7% female (n:170).
Participants reported a mean age of 20.3 years (SD:1.3). Also, the respondents were 28.9oh

senior (n:95),2&.3%junior (n:93),26.1% sophomore (n:86), and 16.7% freshmen (n-*55).

Participants received an e-mail inviting them to take an online survey during the 2A16 spring

semester. Initially, 500 online surveys were distributed and 342 were retumed. After
excluding 13 cases that lacked numerous field values, the final research sample was collected.
Regarding the analyses for answering the hlpotheses, the normal distribution was checked

with descriptive analyses first. After that, correlation analyses were conducted with research
variables, including career calling, academic satisfaction, career decision self-efficacy, and

career decidedness. Lastly, mediation model was tested with SPSS macro (PROCESS)
developed by Hayes.

2.2Instruments
The Presence of a Calling was assessed by the Korean version of the Presence of Calling
subscale from the Brief Calling Scale [19]. The scale is composed of two items including "I
have a calling to a particular kind of work". Previous studies found the Brief Calling Scale is

the most useful instrument for assessing having a calling. In the present study, the internal
consistency showed the appropriate level (a:.81). Career decision self-efficacy, a mediator of
this study, was assessed using the short form of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale
(CDSE-SF) 124). The CDSE-SF is a 25-item scale assesses the degree to which an individual

feels confident handling career decision-making tasks. The internal consistency was checked

with Cronbach's and the level of the consistency showed the appropriateness (a:.79).
Regarding the career decidedness, the seven question items from previous studies were used

[25]. One of those questions was "I am not sure yet which occupations I could perform
successfully (reverse question item)". The reliability showed appropriate level (a: .81), The

degree to which undergraduate students were satisfied with their academic life was measured

by a scale of acadernic satisfaction developed by Lent, Singley, Sheu, Schmidtt, and Schmidu

1261. The scale was composed of 7 question items including "I feel satisfied with the decision
to major in my intended field." The internal consistency reliability of those 7 items was a:.87.

All question items in this study were asked to answer on the 5-point Likert scale.

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3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Results
Prior to the primary analysis, the descriptive and correlation analyses were conducted. The
results showed there are statistically significant correlations among the variables. The
correlation coefficients ranged from r-.185 to r-.412. The results were shown in Table 1. As

hypothesized, calling was positively correlated with the aoademic satisfaction, giving
preliminary support to Hypothesis l.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient (n:329)

1. Calling 3.75 1.ll

2. Career decision self-efficacy 3.82 .95 .392..
3. Career decidedness 3.22 .87 .412.. .1 g5-

4. Academic satisfaction 3.48 .75 .312-. .283'* .295.-

*p<.05;'-p<.07

For testing the mediation effects of career decision self-efficacy and career decidedness, the

SPSS macro (PROCESS) developed by Hayes was used in this study. The analysis for
mediation provided a bootstrapping with 5,000 bootstrap samples and bias-corrected

confidence intervals (CI) to test the significance of the indkect effects. If the 95 percent CI for

the estimates of the mediation effect does not include zero, it means that the indirect effect is

statistically significant. The.results showed significant specific direct effects from calling on
career decision self-efficacy (fr:.35, ,SE:.05, p<.01), career decidedness (fl:.38, SE:.06,
p<.01), and academic satisfaction (p=.28, SE:.04, p<.01). Regarding the medication effect
from calling on academic satisfaction through career decision self-efficacy, the results of the
study showed the significant indirect effect (B:.13, SE:.04;95 percent CI: 0.06-0.18). Also,

the mediation effect of career decidedness identified the statistically significant indirect effect

(B:.17, SE:.05; 95 percent CI: 0.07-0.20). Therefore, results support Hypothesis 2 and
Hypothesis 3.

3.2 Conclusion

The purpose of this study was finding the relationship between calling and academic
satisfaction with the mediating effects of the career decision self-efficacy and career
decidedness in undergraduate student sample. As mentioned in the previous sections, the
modern concept of calling is mainly based on the individual's internal source of motivation.

This study results showed that the individual's internal source of motivation has statistically

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 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWtrEN CALLING AND WtrLL BEING :

significant effect on the academic satisfaction. Furthermore, this study showed that the career
decision self-efficacy and career decidedness mediated the relationship between
undergraduate students' calling orientation and academic satisfaction. These mediating effects

identified the previous literatures' results with undergraduate students. In other words, the fact

that individuals having calling orientation are more likely to possess the high confidence in
managing the career-related tasks [6, 21, 22] and this confidence also enhance academic
satisfaction in college students 18,23f, was identified in this study. This study also found the

mediation effect of career decidedness between calling and academic satisfaction. That is,
calling orientation may enhance the clari[, of career choices and development behaviors and
these behaviors then positively influence the satisfaction in the academic achievement of
students.

Theoretically, this study sheds light on the relationship between callings, well-being, career

decision self-efficacy, and career decidedness of college students. Significantly, the findings

about mediation provides the foundation for future study aimed at identiflring positive
predictors of a university students' academic satisfaction. Career development programs at

universities are usually focused on finding the individual's own motivation and enhancing
satisfaction with university life. The study results suggest that those efforts also consider the

effects of self-efficacy and decidedness in career management during university life.

4. Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Incheon National University Research Grant in 2013.

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*Corresponding author: Yongho Park, Ph.D.

Department of Creative Human Resource Development,

Incheon National University College of Social Sciences,
110 Academy-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon,22012, South Korea

E-mail: yhpark@inu.ac.kr

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prohibited without permission.